The Indiana State House voted Monday to advance a bill to the Senate which would remove Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz as the chairperson of the Indiana State Board of Education.
“This bill is insane,” said Janet Maxwell, president of the New Castle Education Association. “This bill is a power grab by the legislators who continue to criticize teachers and public schools.”
House Bill 1609 would change the language of Indiana State code so that the state superintendent would no longer automatically be the chairperson of the state board of education. Instead, the members of the state board would elect the chairperson from among themselves.
By Indiana code, the state superintendent has automatically served as the state board of education chairperson since 2005 or before. In 2012, Ritz became the first Democrat elected as state superintendent in 40 years with 1.3 million votes.
“When the 1.3 million voters elected her in the last election, we voted for her to be Superintendent of Public Instruction, which includes being the chair of the Department of Education,” Maxwell said.
New Castle superintendent Steve Fisher commented at Monday’s school board meeting that the state legislature “stripped Glenda of all her power today.”
State-level legislators for Henry County also weighed in on the duties and office of the state superintendent.
“I personally think the governor should appoint the superintendent of public instruction, but I think the timing is wrong,” said State Representative Tom Saunders (R-Lewisville). “Most of the people who have contacted me think that the legislature should leave it the way it is. I’m not going to vote to take away the choice the public made.” Saunders voted against HB 1609 Monday.
State Senator Jean Leising (R-Oldenburg) said she hasn’t seen the language in HB 1609 because it hadn’t yet moved to the Senate. But Leising did refer to Senate Bill 1, which also aims to reorganize the State Board of Education (SBOE).
Senate Bill 1 would have the SBOE consist of nine board members and the majority of the board would elect the chairperson. The state board would consist of the superintendent of public instruction and eight members who would be appointed by both chambers of the General Assembly and the governor.
“That proposal seems more balanced,” Leising said. “I think that sounds like a fairly reasonable approach.”
State Senator Doug Eckerty (R-Yorktown) said, “There is presently too much dysfunction on the SBOE. And there is plenty of blame share among all parties involved. The legislature has tried to stay out of this dysfunction for two full years. It can easily be argued that the board dysfunction is causing harm to our children. This needs to stop.”
“If we simply change the make up of the SBOE to take away some of the governor’s appointments, add some bipartisan appointments from the legislature and then allow the SBOE to choose from within the board itself who the chairperson will be each year (it can still be the superintendent), we can take the politics out of the board and return it to a functioning body,” Eckerty said in an email. “Under this type of proposal the superintendent retains all of her constitutional authority as the chief policy implementer of the DOE. No loss of power or authority.”
Eckerty added, “It is highly unusual for a person who functions as a CEO to also be the chairperson of their board. For example, your local bank board or perhaps you local United Way boards are not chaired by their respective presidents or CEOs.”
Governor Mike Pence has recently urged members of the General Assembly to “give members of the State Board of Education the opportunity to choose their own chair.”
HB 1609 will now move to the Senate for review. SB 1 was still in committee review at press time.